Insulating building structure



April 7,1942. JQR; PARSONS 2,278,732

INSULATING BUILDING STRUCTURE Filed April 22, 1940 Patented Apr. 7, 1942 UNITED.. vsfrn'igs PATENT .OFFICE IN SULATING BUILDING STRUCTURE l Joseph R. Parsons, Chicago, Ill., assignor to United States Gypsum Compan-y, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application April 22,1940, serial N0.'33o,s91

Y 3 Claims. (Cl. 20-4) in rolls adapted for storing in superposed tiers 'I without detrimental compression of the mineral wool or other harmful distortionof the bat or of any fabric covering which may form a part thereof.

` It is an object to provide an insulating bat having resilient means associated therewith whereby it is only necessary to place the bat in positionl between the studding and flex the resilient means during positioning of the bat whereby the bat is permanently supported between the studding by the exed engagement of the resilient means therewith.

Fibrous insulating material, such, for instance,

as mineral wool, when placed in the usual manner between the studding in a building structure, has a tendency to settle, particularly when 'moisture condenses ltherein. and this settling results in at least a partial destruction of the insulating qualities of the mineral wool. Various methods have been proposed yfor supporting brous insulating bats. For instance, a paper cover somewhat wider than the bat is sometimes secured 'thereto by means of asphalt cement' or similar means, and

the extending flaps of paper on each side of the bat arel fastened to the studding by means of nails or the like. The usual procedure is to place strips of wood over the paper aps and secure the strips by nails to thereby prevent tearing of the paper. This method of construction involves not only the use of nails and additional lumber, but also involves added labor in the erection process.

Difliculty has been experienced 'in the manufacture and storage of a brous mineral bat for insulating purposes. In many instances it is necessary that the warehouses of the manufacturers of mineral wool insulation should be several times the size ofthe actual production room. The reason for this is that it is impracticable tof-stack mineral wool bats one on top of anto permanently deform them and reduce the insulating emciency thereof. Mineral wool bats are ,quite resilient, but Anot sufficiently so to completely return to their normal state after extended compression in storage.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide mineral wool insulation bats which are capable oi being superposed one upon another for storage purposes without appreciably impairing their insulating qualities. p i

Another object is to provide a self-supporting preformed mineral wool bat having spaced'exible members or resilient elements extending across the bat at intervals along the length thereof, with the flexible members of a length somewhat greater than theY width of the bats,

whereby the bats may permanently be supported between normally spaced studding merely by inserting the bat and flexing the elements tol en-v gage the sides of the studding.

Further objects will be apparent from the speciflcation and the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a wallstr'ucture` including studding and wall covering and illustrates one of the self-supporting bats of this invention permanently supported between the studding.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through a fibrous insulating bat and illustrates one einbodiment of the invention.

Fig. .3 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2, but with the'resilient member protruding beyond e'ach edge of the bat.

Fig. 4 illustrates another embodiment with a resilient member and a. fabric cover on opposite sides of the bat.

Fig.5 illustrates one method of assembling the bats in the wall structure by flexing the resilient member outwardly. y

Fig. 6 is similar to Fig. 5 but illustrates a slightly different method of assembling the bat in the structure by flexing the resilient member inwardly.

Fig. 'I is `a detail sectional view through one of the flexible members assembled in a bat and illustrates one method of securing the flexible member between the mineral wool and the fabric l cover. y

Fig.` 8 illustrates a slightly different embodiment in which the flexible member is embedded I in the bat.

other for storage for the reason that the com- Fig. 9 is a fragmentary detail viewillustrating the bifurcated end ,of one of the flexible supporting members.

Fig. 10 illustrates one of the' bats rolled for storage and the method of superposing one row upon another.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1 comprises a wall struc- Ature in which are provided spaced studding I slightly longer than the width of the bat and are preferably secured thereto so that their ends pro- Alect slightly beyond the edges of the bat. In

inserting the bat, it is only necessary to place it in position between the studding and then push inwardly on the flexible bars d, which will then flex inwardly as shown in Fig. 6, and the ends of the bars, which may be sharpened or serrated, will engage the sides of the studding and will permanently secure and support the bat in position for effectively insulating the structure.

The strips or bars I or their equivalent may be formed of any' suitable material such, for instance, as spring metal, bamboo, or various types of manufactured ber.

In' building structures of this type, the studding are usually spaced approximately 16 inches on centers. However, the space between the studding will'vary between 14 and 15 inches, but normally will-not exceed l5 inches. Therefore, the resilient bars 4 are preferably made approximately 151/4 inches long so that, when pressed l between the studding, they will not unduly compress'the, fibrous pad, but. will flex sufficiently to retain the pad firmly in place. It will, of course, be apparent'that the bars may be made of any length'in accordance with requirements. Fig. 2 illustrates one method of securing the bars to the. mat of the fibrous material. In this view a mat 5 of bi'ous material, such as mineral wool, is provided on one side with a paper covering 6. This covering may be secured to the mineral wool in the usual manner, preferably by asphalt cement or the like, and the resilient bars 4 are transversely secured to the outside of the paper cover by any suitable means. For instance, they .may be cemented thereto, and, in the particular embodiment shown in Fig. 2, the bars are flush with one edge of the mat, as shown at 1, and extend materially beyond the other edge of the mat, as indicated at 8.

, The type of bat construction disclosedherein is particularly advantageous for storage purpcses when the bats are rolled, as shown in Fig.

10, to provide a rolled unit 9 which may be stood on end so that the mat is supported by the bars 4 with the protruding ends 8 of the bars extended upwardly. When a tier of these rolls is placed on a warehouse floor, a sheet of ber board or any other suitable rigid or semi-rigid panel Il may be placed on top of the rolls and will be supported on the protruding ends 8 of the bars. Other rolls may then be placed on the panel Il! and the process may be continued forV several tiers, the number of tiers depending upon the rigidity of the resilient bars 4 and thenumber of bars used. However, as these bats'are comparatively light, a large Vnumber of tiers may be supported without damage to the bats.

slightly greater length than the width of ,saie;=

bats transversely atintervals along the length i of each hat, rolling said bat to form a closedcoil Fig. 3 illustrates another method of securing the bars to the mineral wool bat. In this embodiment the bars 4a are' similar to thosel illustrated in Figs. 1 and2, but extend beyond each edge of the mat, as shown at II. Also in this embodiment the fabric covering lis adhesively secured to one side of the mat and the bars are secured to the outer surface of the fabric in the lmanner previously described.

Fig. 4 illustrates another embodiment in which a fabric cover l2 is secured to one side of the insulating material 5 and the bars lb are secured directly to the opposite side of the mat without any intervening paper covering thereon. The bars in this embodiment preferably extend beyond both edges of the bat. However, they may extend only beyond one edge, if desired. In this embodiment the bars may be secured directly to the fibrous material itself.

Fig. 5 illustrates one method of springing the bars between the studding In this embodiment the central bulge or curvature of the bar is outwardly toward the workman inserting the bat, and it may be inserted by flexing the ends of the bar to enter between the studding and the resilience will cause the bar to tend to straighten out and. it will permanently be retained between the studding and effectively support the bat.

InFig. 6 the bulge or curvature of the Ibar is away from the workman, and this is a somewhat more convenient method of installation for the reason that it is only necessary to place the bat between the studding and push inwardly on the center of each bar.

Fig. 7 illustrates a slightly dierent embodi-l ment in which the bars are secured between the fabric cover and the insulatingy mat. In this embodiment the bar 4c is first secured to a fabric cover I3 by means of a fabric clip Il, and the fabric cover I3, including the attaching bars, may then be secured to the mat 5 in the usual manner.

Fig. 8 illustrates still another embodiment and comprises a fibrous pad I5 which may or may not have a'fabric cover. In this embodiment suitable flexible rods or bars I6 are inserted through the fibrous material itself and are supported thereby vwith their ends protruding as shownat I1. In Vthis embodiment also, one end of each rod may be flush with the same edge -of the bat ii' desired instead of protruding therefrom. The supporting bars are preferably sharpened at the ends in some manner in order to more effectively engage the studding- For instance, they may be pointed as shown at I8 in Fig. 1, or they may be serrated as at I9 (Fig. 9) It is intended, of course, thatthe invention should not be limited to the specific embodiment or embodiments disclosed herein since many modifications may be made, and it is contemplated, therefore, by the appended claims to cover any such modications as Afall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

Having thus described this invention, what I 1.' The method of storing elongated bats of loosely `matted mineral wool ber comprising distributing a plurality of slender semi-rigid bars of roll with said bars extending slightly from at least one end, and storing said rolls on end in a plurality of' Superped tiers by intel-poging :a A tier-Supprting panel between adjant' 7 2. An elongated insulating bat which is selfsupporting when rolled and self-supporting when" unrolled and inserted between studding or the like, comprising an elongated, freely iiexible, nonself-supporting mat of occulent mineral wool,

and a. plurality of narrow, semi-rigid'resilient bars spaced throughout the length of said mat and secured transversely tnereof to form an integral part of said bat, said bars being slightly longer than the distance between said studding and being-suicient in number and rigidity so that when said bat Ls rolled it is self-supporting when the roll is stood on end, and sufficiently resistant to bending to -support a large number .of alternate separating panels and rolled bats thereon without material compression of said ilocculent material.-

yface of said covering and of a length slightly greater than the width of said covering, said bars in each row being suiciently rigid to support thereon a plurality of superimposed alternate panels and rolled bats for storage or shipment without materially compressing any of said bats.

JosEPrr R. PARsoNs. 

